Offensive Coordinator Klay Kubiak Press Conference

Offensive Coordinator Klay Kubiak

Press Conference – October 1, 2026

San Francisco 49ers

You’ve been around a bunch of different quarterbacks. Where does QB Brock Purdy rank or, how do you feel about him post-snap?

“Brock’s always been a really, really good processor. Real natural at it. Whatever processing means, just seeing the field, having good anticipation. To me, that starts with his process of understanding the play, understanding his footwork, understanding his issues on the play so he can play fast, decisively, aggressively. He’s gotten better at that year by year with more experience and he’s playing really good right now, so hope to keep it going.”

It’s an NFL record, I believe, when it comes to the team going through three weeks with no one being able to get to Brock Purdy. When you didn’t necessarily know who was going to be starting on the offensive line, what have you thought of them?

“I think they’ve been really good. We knew who four out of the five would be, I think, in general, but as far as the guard competition, we felt really good. Whoever ended up starting was going to be the right guy and play good for us. These guys have done a heck of a job through three weeks. Obviously, no sacks, but I look at that as a team stat too. It has a lot to do with, obviously, the O-Line, our tight ends, our backs, our quarterback, our receivers being in the right place. There’s been a little bit of luck involved. Brock’s made some great plays of making people miss. So, it’s really a team stat. It has to do with our offense being efficient and staying on track, and so far so good. Hope to keep that going.”

What’s the challenge of facing a playmaker in the secondary who’s trying to bait you into throws like Denver Broncos S Talanoa Hufanga?

“You got to be careful. You got to know where he’s at. You got to know that he’s going to take his shots. You got to know the types of things that he’s anticipating. We were around Huff for a long time in practice and seeing how he plays. He’s such a smart player, man. He knows when to take his risks and it’s very calculated, so you got to be careful. You got to know where he’s at, but you got to play ball and you got to be decisive too. You can’t let those kind of things affect your decisiveness, your aggressiveness as a quarterback. So, we’re aware of him. We know the issue and got to play good football and hopefully if we do that, we’ll come out okay.”

How would you evaluate how WR Brandin Cooks has come along, getting elevated to the 53 today, and his state of readiness if needed on Sunday?

“Just super impressed with the person and how he’s prepared and how he’s kind of jumped in and just learned our offense quickly. It’s a tough position to play in our offense with the alignments, with the run game assignments, with, obviously, the passing game and just real impressed with how well he’s picked it up. He’s a pro and he’s been a lot of places, so I think that’s what gives us confidence that he needs to be elevated and ready to help us.”

Have you sensed in him conceptual knowledge from his time with Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay and the Rams? Is there any carryover?

“Yeah, he has a lot of carryover knowledge with the route tree. There’s things that he’s really comfortable with that he did with Sean that I think we probably do here too in terms of how we teach routes, so that definitely helped a lot.”

The Broncos have some special defensive players. They play a lot of cover-zero blitzes. What does it look like on film when you watch them?

“Yeah, that’s going against [Denver Broncos defensive coordinator] Vance Joseph, who’s just a really good coach, has a really good scheme. He knows when to call his shot and he knows when to be aggressive and to come after the quarterback. All that’s great, but then you got to have the back end who’s tied into it and they’re aggressive when they know they’re blitzing and it’s all really tied together. That group’s been playing together for a while and when they call those blitzes, they usually work. Those guys are ready for it. So, it’s a big challenge. It’s big on the quarterbacks, on the receivers recognizing that stuff and making plays when they’re going to give you a chance to make plays too when they do that. We got to be ready for it, so it’s a huge challenge this week.”

That one blitz where Hufanga lines up on the outside and comes in and the Rams don’t pick it up, who’s responsible in your offense when there’s a late guy threatening to blitz?

“It depends on the protection you’re in, obviously. We put a lot of it on the quarterback. It depends on, is it the back? Is it the O-Line sliding a certain way? It totally depends on what protection you’re in, and we have different ways of solving those problems. Are we going to re-mike? Are we going to throw hot? Are we going to slide the line a different way? There’s different tools you can use to handle those issues. We’re pretty comfortable using a lot of tools. That play in particular, it looks like there might have been a miscommunication. I don’t know. I don’t know what the Rams are in, but that’s the challenge of this scheme is Vance designs some pressures and he can make you hot and you got to be ready to get the ball to your hand or make the right adjustments up front to pick that stuff up because it can cost you the game.”

When a guy like WR Jordan Watkins has to wait as long as he did to get his opportunity and then gets proof of concept, what does that do for him confidence-wise, and what does it do for you guys as play callers in terms of dialing up for him?

“Hopefully that’s confidence for him to know that none of this is too big for him. He’s capable. He’s been doing a good job. He’s been ready. He’s preparing the right way. His process has been good so that when he gets in the game and we call a play and it goes to him, he’s ready for it. I think that’s a confidence booster for him to just keep doing it, keep stacking the days you’re stacking, keep going through your process. Gives us great confidence as coaches that the moment wasn’t too big. That when called upon, he was ready to execute and do his assignments. It didn’t just show up in the catches, too. He was pretty good in the run game. I thought he executed well without the ball, so it’s all good. It’s good positive stuff for him, but we got to keep going with him and keep stacking these weeks and keep getting better.”

You guys have been more efficient in the run game this year than last year. You average over five yards a carry on first down runs. How much easier is it to call a game? Do you think the key to your success so far is the success running it on first down?

“It definitely felt that way in the first game. I felt like we were really efficient running the ball, staying out of long passing situations, second and long, third and long. In this game, it felt like maybe in the second half we got that going a little bit more. Anytime you can be efficient on first down running the ball, it’s going to help. I always talk about staying out of obvious passing situations where the D-Line can tee off, where a play caller might change up their coverages. It just gets harder when you’re in those situations, so the more efficient we can be. I’ve been real happy with our backs. They’ve had some good runs, but there’s been hard runs that get us four, five, six yards that maybe were blocked for three that keep us on track, get us to second and four and then maybe third and two and we have a better chance of staying on the field. Then you look at the second half last week, [RB] Christian [McCaffrey] had a 12-yard run in the fourth quarter. That’s what we’re talking about. Those just efficient grinder runs that keep you on the field and let you keep calling plays, so hopefully we keep that going.”

Every week there’s been a highlight reel, Brock to WR Mike Evans. This one last week where he catches the ball down on his hip. I’m sure it’s very busy in the 20 seconds after a score, but do you have any time to be a fan and say something on the headset or to somebody next to you?

“That one, I was like, ‘Wow, that was really cool.’ I thought it hit the DB in the head. I didn’t ever see the ball go into Mike’s hands because of how late his hands were, but that’s pretty special. He’s got that gift and you can’t help but just kind of say, ‘Wow, that’s awesome.’ Lucky to have him and hopefully we can keep stacking weeks with him and get him healthy and keep going. He’s a pretty special player.”

Do you feel like as coaches you guys are doing a better job of keeping Christian McCaffrey fresh for the fourth quarter?

“I’m not taking credit for that. I think when you got a back like KB [RB Kaelon Black], who we’re trying to get the ball to as well, it’s inevitably going to hopefully keep Christian a little bit fresher just with the reps. It’s what we always say about Christian, though. He does not want to come out of the game, but the more we can rotate KB and keep a back rotation, it’s going to help him. To answer your question, yeah, I do think it helps. Late in the game, if he doesn’t have the wear and the tear of carrying the load throughout the three quarters, I think inevitably he is going to be fresher. He’s going to be able to help us finish better. So, that’s the goal every week, just to keep a good rotation with the backs and see where it goes at the end of the fourth quarter.”

The Broncos are 29th against the run. You’re watching the film. What does it look like?

“It’s three weeks into the season. I think numbers are always going to lie to you. I think in their first game they gave up a lot of rushing yards, and that kind of skews things a little bit. It’s a good run defense, man. They have some really, really good players up front. They’re very, very active. They can dominate the run game, and they have it. You look at some of their tape last year, there’s games where they dominate the run, so we got our work cut out for us. This is a heck of a defense. Huge challenge, and we got to execute. We got to be on it to run the ball well.”

When WR Deebo Samuel Sr. was here last time, you guys built game plans around him. At this stage, I’m assuming it’s more picking your spots. Is that advantageous for you as play callers, but also for him in terms of being able to find where there might be an opening to get him the ball and have a better opportunity to make something happen?

“I think with a player like Deebo, you always have to game plan. You need to find ways to get him to touch the ball and you got to get creative. You got to find ways that maybe the defense hasn’t seen before. I think that doesn’t change. He’s a special player with the ball in his hand, and you’re always looking for those. In terms of whether you’re designing a whole game plan for him, I don’t know if I’ve ever said we’ve done that. When we had him here, when he was a starting Z for years, more stuff probably went to him in the game plan, but with all of our injuries and guys stepping up and Deebo stepping up, inevitably the ball is going to find him more now that he’s playing more. So, I guess I would just say to that, he’s a special player and we’ve got to find ways to get the ball and he affects the game. You guys saw it last week. He touches a lateral and goes 80 yards and that’s what he’s capable of doing. I just think the way he’s running the ball now too, the way he’s punishing the defense when he touches the football, it has an effect. So, it’s our job to keep getting him the ball and find ways to involve him in the game plan.”